or support, a 10Base-T Ethernet interface or a 33.6-Kbps modem, and an Iomega Zip drive. All come with lots of bundled software.
System Overview
All three systems come in a mini-tower design and achieve their low price in several ways. The most obvious is the PowerPC 603e's low cost, as well as low RAM prices. All three also use an internal Enhanced IDE (EIDE) hard drive rather than a higher-priced SCSI drive.
The SuperMac C600 and Power Mac 6500 use a set of ASICs (code-named Alchemy) that are based on Apple's Performa 6000 series and target the cost-sensitive SOHO market. However, flaws in system design contribute to a hardware/software glitch in System 7.6.1 that disables the L2 cache, hammering system performance. But this and other difficulties have been resolved through patches or workarounds.
The Motorola StarMax 5000 series uses the Tanzania II main logic board, which was jointly developed by Apple and Motor
ola. This architecture is a lightweight Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP), which uses some mainstream PC parts to reduce system costs.
All three systems use PCI slots for hardware expansion. Depending on the vendor, the number of PCI slots varies from as few as two to as many as five. PCs typically stuff one expansion slot with a SCSI connector card, another with a Sound Blaster card, and perhaps a third with a graphics accelerator. On a Mac OS system, however, 16-bit stereo sound, a SCSI connector, and accelerated video are integral to the system. Thus, the dearth of slots on these Mac OS systems isn't as bad as it might appear to a PC user. In a last vestige of Apple's go-its-own-way mentality, the Performa 6500 design sports a proprietary communications slot, which may or may not be occupied with a fax/modem card.
Software compatibility among these systems was excellent. In my tests, using Microsoft Office; Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat, and Illustrator; Netscape's Communicator; Qualcomm's E
udora Light Internet E-mail program; and a slew of utilities, I encountered no problems. All my favorite extensions and Control Panels worked as well, such as NOW Utilities and Adobe Type Manager (ATM).
At these systems' clock rates, typical operations, such as image editing in Photoshop,
flew by
quickly. Playback of video CDs through Apple's software QuickTime MPEG decoder was smooth and reliable.
Apple Power Mac 6500
This system has a 300-MHz 603e proces-sor, a 50-MHz system bus, and 512 KB of L2 cache clocked at 50 MHz. Its 64 MB of RAM is expandable to 128 MB. For storage, it has a 4-GB hard drive, a 12X SCSI CD-ROM drive, and a 100-MB Iomega Zip drive. The communications slot has a 33.6-Kbps Express modem. The built-in video uses the ATI 3D Rage II+ graphics-acceleration chip.
The
Power Mac 6500's
other expansion features seem rather sparse, particularly since it's the most expensive of the three systems. It doesn't include an Ethern
et interface or a second display board. It also sports the fewest PCI slots (two). However, adding a PCI expansion card is a snap: You undo three screws, pull on two tabs, and drag out the drawer that houses the slots. Then you simply plug in the card and slide the drawer back into the system.
Umax SuperMac C600/280
This system has the slowest processor speed of the three, at 280 MHz. The processor sits on a plug-in board, which allows for future upgrades. The 280-MHz speed is partially offset by a 1-MB in-line cache that's clocked at 80 MHz, twice the system-bus speed. This also means that the SuperMac's system bus is the slowest of the trio, running at 40 MHz. In terms of BYTEmark performance, the
SuperMac C600
placed last in integer computations, but it actually edged out the faster systems on floating-point computations.
At $2395, it comes loaded with a 12X CD-ROM drive, a 4-GB hard drive, 32 MB of RAM (expandable to 144 MB), an Asante 10Base-T Ethernet card, a s
econd display board with accelerated 2-D and 3-D graphics for dual-monitor support, and a 33.6-Kbps Global Village fax/modem card in the communications slot. It also has a slew of extras, such as a pair of miniature stereo speakers and a JABRA Ear Phone for use with the telephony functions.
To add a PCI card to the SuperMac, you must first loosen some screws, slide the case off, and remove a support strut. I managed to figure this out without consulting a manual, but the process could be daunting for some people. MPEG playback of the video CD didn't work, but a quick download of a patch from the SuperMac Web site solved the problem. The system doesn't come with a Zip drive, but there are plenty of bays for one.
Motorola StarMax 5000/300
On the outside, this box looks almost as smart as the Apple unit. There's a lot to like on the inside, too: a 300-MHz 603e processor, 512 KB of L2 cache (expandable to 1 MB) on a 50-MHz bus, 32 MB of RAM (expandable to 160 MB), ATI 3D Rage II+ accelerated
graphics for the built-in video, a 16X CD-ROM drive, a 4.3-GB hard drive, 10Base-T Ethernet, an IMS Twin Turbo graphics card for dual-monitor support, and an internal 100-MB Zip drive -- all for a price of $2899.
While the
StarMax
placed last in both the BYTEmark integer and floating-point calculations, the difference among the three systems was so small that it was unnoticeable. With the unit's Ethernet interface, accelerated graphics, and large hard drive, I found myself using it a lot.
The one dark side to the StarMax is adding a PCI card. Of the three systems, this was the hardest to do this on. I had to consult the manual to figure it out. And the procedure involves some disassembly -- again, a bad thing for the average user.
A Close Race
Of the three systems, I prefer the StarMax because it's well built and about as fast as the other two. The mix of extras, such as the Ethernet interface, Zip drive, and second display card, make it attractive. Plus, it
has no problems with MPEG playback. In addition, the Tanzania II design means that you can use a spare PC mouse and keyboard on the system.
The SuperMac C600 places a close second, with nearly the same goodies and a price of just under $2400. Despite its good performance, the Power Mac's high price and lack of a second display and Ethernet interface means I can't recommend it over the Motorola and Umax systems.
Product Information
Apple Power Mac 6500..................$3000
Apple Computer, Inc.
Cupertino, CA
Phone: 408-996-1010
Fax: 800-505-0171
Internet:
http://www.apple.com/
Enter 1084 on Inquiry Card.
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